TWO-AXIS CONFORMAL OPTICAL SENSOR (TACOS)

MANY MILITARY LASER SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED AND MORE ARE EXPECTEDI FUTURE. SOME EXAMPLES OF SUCH SYSTEMS INCLUDE LASER TARGET DESIGNATOR FINDERS, AND LASER RADAR. IN ORDER TO EFFECTIVELY DEFEND/COUNTER SYSTEMS, IT IS ADVANTAGEOUS TO POSSESS THE ABILITY TO DETECT/IDENTIFY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREAT LASER RADIATION. LASER POWER RESEARCH (LPR) PROPOSES A NOVEL, TWO-AXIS, CONFORMAL, OPTI (TACOS) WHICH HAS THE CAPABILITY OF DETECTING THE THREAT LASER ANGLE O (AOA), WAVELENGTH, PULSE LENGTH, PULSE REPETITION FREQUENCY (PEP) AND ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE (EMI). THESE CAPABILITIES ALLOW FOR A HI LASER COUNTERMEASURES (LCM) SOPHISTICATION THAN THAT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. PHASEI OF THIS PROGRAM INCLUDES PROOF-OF-PRINCIPAL EXPERIMENT, DETAILED PHYSICAL MODEL OF THE TACOS RESPONSE TO A VARIETY OF CURRENT LASER WEAPON SYSTEMS.